38237 New York to San Francisco
by bloodyelectro
Summary: QW14! Day 1. "The sky above New York was a bright blue on this first Sunday in November and the weather was pretty much perfect for running a marathon. The city was buzzing with excitement, thousands of fans and runners filling the streets and in the middle of it all were Quinn and her best friend Rachel."


**38237 - New York to San Francisco  
**

The sky above New York was a bright blue on this first Sunday in November and the weather was pretty much perfect for running a marathon. The city was buzzing with excitement, thousands of fans and runners filling the streets and in the middle of it all were Quinn and her best friend Rachel.

"This is going to be so great. We will feel so accomplished once we´ve finished this," Rachel told her as she stretched her legs.

Quinn nodded silently as she took a look around. She wasn´t sure if she was going to make this. Everyone around her seemed to be better prepared than her and she seriously considered faking an injury two miles into the race. Her best friend on the other hand seemed to have no such thoughts. Rachel was jumping up and down next to her, excitedly babbling about overstepping one´s limits and being strong willed, the head overcoming the limitations of the body.

To be honest Quinn had stopped paying attention to her five minutes ago. The only time Rachel crossed her mind was when she was reminding herself that she was her best friend and that she had meant no harm when she had talked her into participating in this madness. But strangling her after they crossed the finish line was still an option, given that she made it that far.

"I can´t believe I flew out here for this," Quinn muttered quietly, half-heartedly stretching her legs.

Shoving her a bit Rachel nearly made her lose her balance, "I know that you´ve trained just as hard as I did and we will do great. This is also a super bonding experience and it will strengthen our friendship even further."

Before she could reply Quinn felt a tap on her shoulder and when she turned around she was met with a wide and happy smile.

"Hey," the Latina in front of her greeted her happily.

Like everybody in the near vicinity she was dressed in running clothes and sporting the obligatory bib number on her shirt. Admittedly not many around them wore that outfit as good as the woman in front of her and those legs…

"Uhm…hi," Quinn finally managed to reply looking back up to meet the stranger´s eyes.

"You´re number 38237," the black-haired woman said motioning to her shirt.

A quick check confirmed: yes that was indeed her number, "So?"

The other woman held up her hand which had Quinn´s bib number in a messy scrawl on the palm. "It´s a thing my friends and I do, if you find the person with the number you had the year before you don´t have to pay for dinner," she explained with a smile, "So could we maybe take a picture together? They´ll want to see some proof."

"Uhm… okay, do you have a camera or phone with you?"

Pulling a phone out of her arm pocket she turned to Rachel, "Would you mind?"

"No, not at all," taking the phone Rachel winked at her best friend as the other woman put an arm around her waist to pose for the photo.

"Thank you so much. This is the first time I find my number," she told Quinn conversationally, "actually that´s not true. Two years ago a saw the guy with my number but he looked super creepy so I didn´t approach him."

"Well, no problem. I´m always happy to help," which was true. Quinn loved helping out incredible attractive women.

They both smiled for the photo and Rachel handed the phone back to its owner.

"Perfect," the other women judged after checking the picture, "I´m Santana by the way."

"I´m Quinn, this is my friend Rachel."

"You´re first time running a marathon?"

"Yes, I´m concluding you´ve ran before?"

"Yup, usually twice a year since I´ve been twenty," Santana confirmed as she pocketed her phone. A quick look at the time told her that their race would start in just under five minutes, "Okay, I have to go back to my friends, but thanks again and have a good run."

"You too."

With another wide smile Santana turned around and disappeared back into the crowd.

"Wow."

"Trying to catch flies there, Quinnie?" Rachel teased her friend who was still looking in the direction the other woman had left for.

The blonde quickly snapped her mouth shut and glared at her friend, "Don´t call me that."

"Maybe she´ll wait for you at the finish line," Rachel sing sang with a grin on her face.

Just the possibility of that was reason enough for Quinn wanting to finish this run.

Rachel and her lost visual contact around mile ten, when Quinn dropped a bit behind. They had agreed not to run together but instead meet up in the finish area, because concentrating on one´s own tempo was hard enough.

Quinn saw Santana a few times during the race, mostly checking on other people, which explained the first aid armlet she had wrapped around her upper arm. But it was only after twenty miles that the other woman fell into step with her.

"Hey, how´s it going?"

"Okay I guess," Quinn panted out.

"You´ll do great, it´s just a few more miles anyway," Santana said with an encouraging smile.

Grunting in acknowledgement Quinn tried her best not to show the other woman that she felt like she was slowly dying.

"The first time I ran a marathon some grandma left me in her dust at mile 18 and I was like `Okay, if she can do this, I can do this too.`," Santana remembered, "and you´ve already made it this far, the rest is gonna be a piece of cake."

Great, now she was thinking about cake.

"Hey, what do you get when you run in front of a car?" Santana asked her.

Quinn gave her a side glance and shrugged.

"Tired," the Latina answered her own question, laughing to herself. "You´re not one for running jokes I take it?" She asked when Quinn only barely smiled in response.

"Can´t laugh. I need all the air I can get," she paused to take a deep breath, "to make it through this."

"Oh I get it. I´ll stop distracting you, if you join me for dinner tonight. I can make my friends pay for you as well and if you want you can bring your friend Rachel," Santana suggested and Quinn nearly tripped over her own feet.

"Woah, careful there," the other woman teased, "so what do you say?"

"Maybe."

"You could give me your number and then I could call you later for details?"

"Do you have something to write?" Quinn asked after taking another deep breath.

"You can just tell me. I´ll remember till I find something to write," Santana explained, "I´m like the best rememberer ever."

Quinn couldn´t help the snort accompanying her laughter, "rememberer? Sounds like a nerdy super hero."

The blush on Santana´s face was the cutest thing ever.

"Ready to use your super power?" She asked before stating her phone number, "should I repeat it?"

"No, I got it, super power and all," Santana replied with a wink. Obviously she recovered quickly from embarrassment. "Okay, so, talk to you later?"

"Sure."

"Cool and look it´s only five more miles," Santana said motioning to the big sign at the side of the street, "you´ll be fine," after winking at the blonde one last time Santana speed up and quickly got lost in the mass of runners.

"I feel like I´m dying," Quinn said sinking to the ground once she found Rachel in the finish area twenty minutes after she´d crossed the finish line. She´d barely managed to warm-down, her whole body was screaming at her in pain.

"But we did it! We just finished our first marathon!" Rachel exclaimed showing off her medal.

"First and last!"

Once they got to Rachel´s apartment they both took a long shower and then fell onto Rachel´s bed, armed with ice bags and some food.

"Thanks for doing this with me," Rachel said when they were settled.

"No problem," her best friend replied around a yawn.

They fell asleep quickly after and Quinn never even heard her phone ring when Santana called.

The next morning when she charged her phone she got the voicemail Santana had left the night before. "_Hey, this is Santana, so if you´re still up for it we´re meeting at the River Café at eight tonight, just ask for Lopez when you get there. Hope to see you soon, bye_."

"Damn it," Quinn checked the message for a phone number but the call had come from an unknown caller. All she could do now was hope Santana would call again.

Unfortunately she never did.

* * *

"You know volunteering is kind of exhausting as well," Rachel noted a few months later in the finish area of the San Francisco Marathon where she handed out water and medals along with Quinn.

"Oh come on, this is much more fun than running yourself, look how happy and accomplished they all look," Quinn replied before she handed another runner their medal and congratulated them on their success.

When she turned back around she was met with a familiar face.

"Hey, Quinn, right? You remember me? We met in New York last November," Santana´s smile was just as wide and happy as Quinn remembered.

"Santana, of course! How was your race?"

"Great, new personal best time," she stated, a proud grin on her flushed face.

"Congratulations!" Quinn and Rachel replied at the same time.

It was only then that Santana noticed the other women, "Oh, hey. You´re the friend from last time, sorry I forgot your name…"

"Rachel."

"Right Rachel. Why aren´t you guys running this time?"

Quinn was a little preoccupied by not so subtly staring at Santana´s legs so it took her a moment to answer, "Last time was more of a one time thing. You know, run a marathon once in your life and all. Prove to yourself that you can do it."

"I see… So if I´d asked you again would you join me for dinner this time?" Santana asked after a short pause.

The blonde nodded her head enthusiastically, "Yes! I´m so sorry about New York, we crashed after the race and I missed your call and I didn´t have your number and you never called again so..."

"Yeah, my flight back home left the day after and I figured I maybe had come on too strong or something," Santana recalled.

"No, no. I wanted to get to know you, I still do. So, yes to dinner."

"Cool, but just in case can I give you my number?"

"Absolutely," Quinn replied with a big smile as she went to grab some paper and a pen.

"Are you from around here or just visiting?" Santana asked as she scribbled her contact info on the post-it.

"Rachel´s from New York, but I live up in Berkeley. And you? Just here for the marathon?"

"Nope, I live in Oakland, so we´re kind of neighbors," Santana grinned at her and handed Quinn her number, "How much longer do you need to stay here?"

"A few more hours, our shift just started and not everybody finishes as quickly as you do," the blonde awkwardly tried to flirt.

The smile on Santana´s face only widened, "Speaking off: are you going to give me my medal?" she asked leaning closer to the blonde.

"Oh, of course."

Quinn carefully put the medal around Santana´s neck and then placed a lingering kiss on her cheek, leaving both of them blushing. Rachel did her best not to squeal in delight, her best friend was so smitten already.

"Thanks," Santana said biting her lip, "well, I gotta go, see if I can find my friends. I´ll call you later about dinner, okay?"

"Totally."

"And I really hope you´ll answer this time," Santana said as she slowly backed away.

Waving the paper with her number Quinn grinned, "if I don´t, I can call you back this time around."

"Okay, talk to you soon. Good seeing you again, Rachel," with that Santana turned around and disappeared back into the mass of people.

"You do realize that if you start dating her you´re more than likely going to have to participate in another marathon at some point in the future, right?"

"If _she_´s waiting for me at the finish line, I´ll happily run a dozen more marathons," Quinn said dreamily.

"I´ll be sure to remind you of that when the time comes," Rachel replied with a smile, happy for her best friend.


End file.
